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OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Baptist got a much needed opening-round win, rallying past 12th-ranked Wayland Baptist 11-9 on Tuesday in the NAIA Region VI baseball championships at Oklahoma City University's Jim Wade Stadium.
With the win, OBU advances to Thursday's 6 p.m. second-round game against host OCU. Lubbock Christian meets Wayland Baptist at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Doug Hurn (7-2) got the win in relief, going 7.1 innings and allowing two runs after coming on in the second inning with OBU down at the time, 7-1.
"Doug did a great job in a tough situation and really stabilized things and worked out of a couple tough situations," said OBU coach Bobby Cox.
Hurn, who was projected as a starter, instead did a starter's job in the important first round game.
"You have to win the first game," Cox said. "They brought in their No. 2 guy - Stringer - and had Jeffress warming up in the eighth. That tells you right there the sense of urgency that comes in game one."
Wayland Baptist jumped out early with four runs in the first inning with three coming on a home run by Keith Martin.
OBU got one run back on a sacrifice fly by Keith Johnson in the second, but a two-run home run by Brett Cook sparked a three-run second to give WBU a 7-1 lead after two innings.
"I didn't think we got enough off of Gates in the first couple of innings," Cox said. "He wasn't as sharp as he has been and I felt like we let him off the hook."
The Bison rallied in the third with an RBI double by Mason Reilly and a two-run single by Frank Avilla, pulling to within 7-4.
Eddie Allen homered to give Wayland Baptist an 8-4 lead in the bottom of the third.
The Bison broke out with five runs in the fourth to take their first lead of the game.
Chris Chambers and Frank Avilla drew bases-loaded walks before Christian Ruiz whipped a three-run double for a 9-8 OBU lead.
Wayland scored in the fifth to tie the game, but OBU took an 11-9 lead in the sixth when Keith Johnson ended his 0-fer-Wayland with a two-run home run.
OBU had 12 hits, including two each by Billy Thomas, Josh Collazo, Reilly, Avilla and Ruiz.
Lubbock Christian has season-high 21 hits in 15-9 win
No. 1-ranked Lubbock Christian tied a season high with 21 hits, and six individuals had multi-RBI performances as the Chaps opened the NAIA Region VI Championships with a 15-9 win over Northwood (Texas).
Texas Wesleyan meets Northwood at 11 a.m. Thursday in an elimination game.
LCU started their offense early, limiting the Knights starting pitcher Kyle Gainley to just two innings, as the Chaps jumped out with the first nine runs of the game. Will Stramp opened the scoring in the first inning with a single to score Buck Britton. Tyler Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to score Ryan Burke to complete the first inning scoring.
The Chaps scored six runs in the second inning. Karlton Banks produced a run with a double and Burke scored a pair with a single before Johnson picked up his second sacrifice fly of the game. Burke opened the game with singles in his first three at-bats, and his third at-bat scored the Chaps lone run in the third inning. The Chaps got a solo home run by Rob Learned in the sixth inning and a trio of runs in the seventh inning off a home run by Stramp, followed by an RBI double from Learned and a run-producing single from Jaime Armendariz.
Gary Poynter left after six innings pitched, and Jakob Cunningham and Billy Jordan combined to close out the game.
The win gives the Chaps a 51-2 overall record and places Poynter with his NAIA-leading 14th win of the season. Poynter (14-1) surrendered four runs off eight hits in the win.
OCU reaches 50 wins for 10th year in a row with 13-6 win
Oklahoma City posted a 50-win season for the 10th year in a row as the Stars downed Texas Wesleyan 13-6.
Fourth-ranked OCU moved to 50-10 on the year. No. 18 Texas Wesleyan fell to 40-15.
David Dennis hammered two home runs and went 3-for-5 with five RBIs on the game. Dennis nailed a two-run shot to center field in the first inning to put OCU up 3-0, then hit a three-run blast to right field in the second to put the Stars on top 7-3.
Texas Wesleyan tied the game 3-3 in the second, then cut its deficit to 7-6 in the seventh. OCU responded with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Stars got Brent Weaver's RBI double, Carey Crain's pinch-hit, run-scoring single and Brandon Moss' RBI base hit to pull away 10-6.
OCU's Kirk Walker added a two-run homer to left in the eighth, then Crain had an RBI base hit for the final margin.
Weaver went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, and Garrett Regan was 4-for-5 with three runs scored. Walker was 3-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBIs. OCU put together 20 hits.
David Odquist earned the victory to move to 11-2 on the year. Odquist struck out six in six innings. Brad Riddle and Tristan Bugenis held Texas Wesleyan scoreless the last two innings.